A.J. McCarron, the former quarterback for Alabama, will play in the UFL this spring following his release from the Cincinnati Bengals.
In order to “re-sign with the UFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks” on Thursday, McCarron “asked to be released by the Bengals,” according to NFL reporter Howard Balzer. McCarron, 33, earned three national titles while playing for the Crimson Tide between 2009 and 2013.
This won’t be McCarron’s first foray into spring pro football. He played for the Battlehawks in 2023 with the XFL as the MVP and led the league in touchdowns, completion percentage, and passer rating. McCarron threw for 2,150 yards and 24 touchdowns versus six interceptions in nine games last year.
Huge in relation to the city. Insider James Larsen of Pro Football Newsroom wrote, “QB1 back in action.”
According to Balzer, UFL players arrive for training camp on February 24 and the season begins on March 30. McCarron can rejoin the Bengals following the UFL season, much like he did following the XFL campaign, as is the case in 2023. This season, the USFL and XFL combined to form a single spring league.
McCarron began his pro career with the Bengals as the team’s fifth-round NFL Draft pick in 2014. He sat behind starter Andy Dalton from 2014 to 2017 before stints with the Buffalo Bills and then-Oakland Raiders in 2018.
Afterward, McCarron spent time with the Houston Texans in 2019 and 2020 before a 1-year stint with the Atlanta Falcons in 2021, which resulted in an ACL tear. The Battlehawks gave McCarron a chance for a comeback when the team drafted him in 2022, and it led him to his Bengals return in 2023.
McCarron had success early in his NFL career when he stepped in as a rookie in place of Dalton during the 2015 season. In three starts, McCarron went 2-1 and threw for 854 yards and six touchdowns versus two interceptions amid seven game appearances overall.
Another start didn’t come McCarron’s way until the 2019 season in Houston after he only threw 19 more passes in a Bengals uniform from 2016 to 2018. McCarron lost his lone start with the Texans as he completed 56.8% of his passes for 225 yards, and he got picked off once.
Despite his background, McCarron played in just two Bengals games during the previous year due to starter Joe Burrow’s wrist injury, which ended the season. Burrow was replaced by Jake Browning as the starting quarterback, and McCarron completed five passes altogether.
At Alabama, A.J. McCarron had a prosperous college career.
McCarron, the 2013 Heisman Trophy runner-up, had even greater success in Tuscaloosa. In his four seasons with the Tide, McCarron completed 66.9% of his throws for 9,019 yards and 77 touchdowns against 15 interceptions.
An Alabama native, McCarron emerged as a local star with St. Paul’s Episcopal in Mobile, Alabama. McCarron earned All-State honors in football and baseball there before former Tide head coach Nick Saban recruited him. The former Tide quarterback McCarron praised Saban after his retirement in January but said he saw it coming.
“He accomplished everything he set out to do,” McCarron said about Saban in an interview with AL.com in January. “I’m not sure what else he could do.”
